Community Policing Goes Townwide

Grant Covers Expansion Of Program This Fall

May 06, 1999|By KYM SOPER; Courant Staff Writer

Not so long ago, the neighborhood cop knew the people on his beat. He walked the streets, joked with residents and kept a tight rein on local hooligans.

What's old could be new again as Manchester police expand community policing townwide this fall. The east and west sides of downtown now have officers on neighborhood streets and in substations. The Spruce Street substation opened in 1992, followed by the Cooper Street office three years later.

Todd Ramsay, the town's consultant from the Bellingham, Wash., police department, said the difference between traditional and community policing is that ``traditional policing deals with quantitative measures'' -- the number of arrests made or tickets issued. ``Community policing deals with qualitative measures -- working together, forming partnerships, problem-solving,'' he said.

Even those assigned to cruisers are expected to leave the car to talk to people, Ramsay said. They need to understand their area by asking questions and talking with residents and merchants about concerns, he said.

But ``in no way does community policing disregard aggressive enforcement of the law,'' he added. ``It incorporates it. We just expand on that.''

Ramsay met last week with a team of 30 police officers and two or three civilians to reach the final details of the systemwide conversion.

Police Chief Gerald Aponte said that in his 33 years as a police officer, he has seen policing trends and buzzwords come and go -- team policing, total quality management, public relations policing -- but they ``didn't come with substantive changes.''

Community policing is a new philosophy, he said, and while it may not be practical to have a cop walking every street in town, police officers will be expected to know and work with community members to solve crimes in their areas.

``If an officer goes back to the same address and same situation three or four times, you ask them to take the time and take a look at what the problem is,'' said Aponte. ``There could be alcohol problems, [the breadwinner] could be out of a job and hungry. I want them to become an ombudsman for that family and identify the problem and find a solution. Think of all the time we'd be saving ourselves. It's service to perform so we don't have to come back again and again and again.''

Up to now, patrol officers were ``treated as automatons. We never taxed them to solve problems -- to see the relationships from one incident to another,'' Aponte said.

But some officers were pessimistic, saying they do not want to be counselors or therapists. They said they don't have time to do what they should be doing -- solving serious crimes.

Lt. Otto Rhode Jr., president of the Manchester police union, said the group is not taking a stand on the issue until the transition team presents its report. He hopes any problems will be resolved by the time the union contract expires in July.

Aponte said he wants to use civilian volunteers to help with staffing issues and concerns about lack of time. One quarter of the second graduating class of the Citizens Police Academy agreed to perform records and evidence storage duties as a way of relieving officers of some paperwork duties. Civilians might also staff satellite offices, he said.

Issues to be resolved by the transition team include the designation of zones, staffing and scheduling changes for the areas within the zones, and whether those areas should be patrolled on foot, bicycle or cruiser.

How Manchester is divided will depend on more than just geography, Aponte said. The mall area, with its own particular set of problems, will probably be one zone, he said. The rest of the town will probably be divided into two zones, incorporating the east and west sides.

A lieutenant commander will be assigned to each zone and will break it down into smaller sections or neighborhoods, also taking responsibility for scheduling and assignments for various areas within the zone.

The idea is ``just in the infant stages right now,'' said Det. Michael Morrissey, a member of the transition team that will work with Ramsay to develop a plan. The hope is to have all 119 police officers assigned to the same zones, becoming like the old-time ``beat cops,'' he said.

Under the current system, an officer might work in the North End one day, dealing with shoplifting and car thefts, and the next day be solving burglaries in the South End.

Some officers do build relationships within the community when they work a 30-day shift in one neighborhood, said Morrissey, but by the ``next month they'll find themselves away from that area and lose touch with the residents.''